Thanks to the great work of our skeptical sympathizers in Australia, we have another science-based refutation of anti-vaccinationist claims by Dr. Rachael Dunlop. You can find the full story here, but allow me to summarize some excerpts of each myth and response below. Keep in mind that these are only summaries, and much more information on this “immunization cheat sheet” can be found at the source.

The Myths Surrounding Vaccination

Myth 1: Vaccines cause autism.

“The theory that vaccines cause autism was first suggested by Andrew Wakefield in 1998. Since then, Wakefield’s paper has been discredited and withdrawn from The Lancet and Wakefield has lost his medical licence for showing ‘callous disregard’ for children’s welfare.

Since 1998 there have been countless large and comprehensive studies looking for a link between vaccines and autism, but the evidence keeps coming up negative.”

[Many more studies showing that there is no link are referenced in the original article.]

Myth 2: Vaccines contain mercury

“Mercury has not been present in routine childhood vaccines in Australia since 2000 and it was never in the MMR vaccine.”

Myth 3: Vaccines contain toxic ingredients

“Many of these claims are quite simply untrue. The rest, without exception, misrepresent the facts.

These [additives] are known as “adjuvants” and work like a booster to kick start the immune system into making antibodies. But just as the “dose makes the poison”, the concentrations of these metals are so low as to not be harmful to the body.”

Myth 4: Vaccines have never been tested.

“When people claim that vaccines have ‘never been tested’ they usually mean that they have not undergone randomized placebo controlled trials (RCTs). To do an RCT of a vaccine you would need to take two groups of kids, give one group the vaccine, and the other a placebo, then expose both groups to the disease to see which ones survive. Raise your hand if you can see the problem here…

Not only would such an experiment be unethical, it’s unnecessary. We have extensive evidence demonstrating the effectiveness of vaccines; the eradication of smallpox and the near-eradication of polio from the world are just two examples.”

[Many more studies are referenced in the original article.]

Myth 5: Vaccines don’t work because children who are vaccinated can still get the disease.

“No vaccine is 100% effective, and since everybody’s physiology is different, not everyone will develop immunity to the same degree; a vaccine is not a force field. But while you can still breathe in a virus or pick up bacteria off a door handle, the seriousness of the disease will be significantly reduced if you have been vaccinated. In the case of pertussis or whooping cough, severe complications such as seizures and pneumonia occur almost exclusively in unvaccinated people and one in every 200 babies who contract the disease will die.”

Myth 6: Improved living standards, not vaccination have reduced disease.

“The three most significant factors in the reduction of infectious disease have been clean water, sewerage systems, and vaccination. But even in isolation, vaccination has made a huge dent in reducing rates of disease.”

Myth 7: Infectious diseases are not serious; children are meant to get them.

“If you still think infectious diseases are harmless, wander through your local cemetery one day and note how many children died from diseases that we no longer see in society today – stamped out largely due to mass vaccination. Some of us are old enough to remember the images of children in iron lungs and calipers during the scourge of polio, which was wiped out by vaccination.”

Myth 8: Vaccines cause or spread the diseases they are supposed to prevent.

“Experiencing a slight temperature and/or a sore arm after getting a vaccine is actually a good thing. While some people misinterpret this as “getting the flu after the flu vaccine” it simply indicates that your immune system is responding. Vaccines work by priming your immune system with a part of the disease, usually inactivated particles or a fraction of the organism, so that it can make antibodies. This means next time you come across the disease in the environment your body is ready with an arsenal of antibodies to attack it before it can make you really sick.”

Myth 9: My child’s immune system will be overwhelmed.

“The amount of immune challenges that children fight every day (2,000 — 6,000) is significantly greater than the number of antigens in any combination of vaccines (about 150 for the entire vaccination schedule).”

Get Vaccinated!

If you found this list helpful, make sure to send it to those who may still harbor many of these myths about vaccines. Vaccines are one of the greatest medical advancements in human history and it would be a disaster to see them unnecessarily shamed by raging conspiracy theorists and poor science.

9 thoughts on “Busting 9 Vaccination Myths, With Science!”

None of this arguments is convincing enough, Sorry. The title suggests that those vaccine myths would be busted with science? I havent found here any proper argument, neither i found any argument being scientifically supported.

Eh, I’m on the fence about this. While I see the importance of vaccines before travelling to areas where diseases (that are not common in the West) are found, I think the list of vaccinations given to children are extensive and unnecessary. I have never been vaccinated for ANYTHING other than tetanus – and that was only after an injury…(and the doctors basically forced it upon me). I would never ever ever in a million years get a flu shot. I think it’s a lot of Western hype. Yes, we have eradicated small pox and polio…so what’s the point in subjecting kids in America to the shots now?

Also…I never ever ever get sick. EVER. Not like the way my friends, who have been vaccinated, do. Is it chance? No way. I have a healthy, strong immune system that has never needed vaccines.

A lot of the deaths from diseases occur, and in the past have occurred, in areas where water, sewage, general uncleanliness is prevalent. In a society now, where we can control these conditions, I see no need for vaccinations. Take care of your kids, breast feed, give them the tools to a healthy life…and you don’t need these “jabs”.

By the way, I’m by no means a herbal homeopathy hippie. Quite the opposite. I just believe in common sense. My mum’s a doctor. If she felt that vaccinations were necessary, we would’ve had them.

The list of vaccines that we give to children is so long so as to prevent many of the childhood diseases that are still roaming around. You may think it is unnecessary, but it actually is critical to the health of our children. I suppose that you were lucky as a child, and never contracted anything like whooping cough. This luck should not preclude other at-risk children from getting vaccinated.

Even though we have dealt a major blow to many diseases with vaccination, it is very important that everyone gets vaccinated. This creates what is called herd immunity. If enough people are vaccinated, the diseases have no hosts to live off of and soon die out. However, if we stop getting vaccinated, even in a period without much disease activity, the diseases are likely to return. This is what happened in California last year when 9 infants died from whooping cough after their parents refused to have them vaccinated.

Yes, it is probably a combination of luck and a healthy immune system that you do not get sick often. However, many people are not as lucky as you are, especially children. Also, if you have never been vaccinated for small pox and by some chance you happened to get it, I doubt that you immune system would protect you. That’s why vaccination is so important.

I disagree with your picture of vaccination. Yes, many diseases in the past were propagated because of poor sewage removal and treatment, unhygienic living conditions, etc., by this is not the case for diseases like small pox, polio, mumps, measles, chicken pox, etc. These have nothing to do with the advancements that you mentioned and we still need vaccines to fight them. Unfortunately, simply living a healthy life will not cure your pertussis.

Vaccines save millions of lives each year from the diseases that they prevent. Scientists have recently developed a malaria vaccine that could save tens of millions of people in the next few years. I doubt that you would oppose this.

I’m glad that you have had the good fortune to be healthy and have not contracted any of the preventable diseases that vaccines handle. However, they are very much necessary, are one of the greatest health advancements in the last century, save millions of lives each year, are inexpensive and harmless, and I would urge you to reconsider you position on them. Yes, you have been lucky, but many other children (and adults) are not. Vaccination is the best way to fight off preventable disease, and I would recommend their use to any parent.

I’d be happy to answer any more questions that you have about vaccines.

Vaccinations were introduced at a time of greatly reduced instancesof the diseases they were sjupposedly protecting us from. Improved nutrition and sanitation are the reasons for less diseasein western countries. Immunisation is a multi billion dollar hoax perpetuated on the public by a greedy pharma industry. I have never read a shred of scientific evidence proving that vaccination has any effect on disease prevention, and I have looked very hard. If such evidence existed, I’m sure it would be plastered all over this and other pro vaccination websites. Instead we get the usual sweeping statements, completely unsuported by any scientific evidence.

Vaccination reduced the incidence of diseases (mumps, malaria, polio, small pox, etc.) at a time when many adults and children were dying from those diseases. After the introduction of vaccinations, those diseases were all but wiped out.

While it is true that good nutrition and sanitation can help reduce the incidence of disease, polio does not care how clean your house is or how healthy your diet is. It will still paralyze you without a vaccination. For example, The two polio vaccines have eliminated polio from most countries in the world, and reduced the worldwide incidence from an estimated 350,000 cases in 1988 to 1,652 cases in 2007. This cannot be attributed to either of the factors you mentioned because the reduction rates were across countries of varying nutrition and sanitation standards.

Attributing immunization to a conspiracy theory that has exactly zero evidence behind it betrays merely distrust, not anything based in fact.

If you have not seen “a shred” of scientific evidence proving that vaccines work, then you have no idea how to search the medical literature (or use the Internet). Here is one example. Just go to Google Scholar and type in “vaccine efficacy” or something similar. If you do not find any scientific support then you must not be looking at the screen.

Vaccination is completely supported by the evidence and is one of the greatest medical advances in human history. You feebly try to poke holes in that assertion, but you offer hollow arguments and conspiracy theories.

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About the Author

Kyle Hill is a science writer and communicator who specializes in finding the secret science in your favorite fandom. His work has appeared in Wired, The Boston Globe, Scientific American, Popular Science, Discover Magazine, and more. He is a TV correspondent for Al Jazeera America's science and technology show TechKnow.